Turncoats and the Perussuomalaiset of Finland

Can you trust a party that says one thing and then does the other? If you look at the adamant stand that the the Perussuomalaiset (PS)* and its leader, Timo Soini, had against any bailouts for Greece, we have now witnessed one of the biggest turncoat performances in Finnish politics ever.

This link in Finnish will show you how Soini and the PS have had to eat their words big time as a result of the bailouts.

After using some of the most demeaning language against the last government, the PS unanimously voted in favor of the support package for Greece, reports YLE in English.

“I can’t simply allow an issue which we cannot prevent by ourselves take away our power to affect change within the government,” Soini was quoted as saying in YLE in English.

Tabloid Iltalehtireported Saturday that Immonen’s ties with members of the SVL are stronger than what the PS has led us to believe.

Certainly the support package for Greece plus the scandal that Immonen has brought to the party has eroded its credibility.

Some analysts believe that the problems and inexperience of the PS could spell an early exit from government.

The PS is a victim of its own circumstance. In the past years it has attacked migrants, refugees, minorities, homosexuals and the EU. Much of the xenophobia, Islamophobia and hostility towards migrants and minorities in this country can be blamed on the PS.

Links to neo-Nazi parties like the SVL and using near-constantly a nationalistic narrative that is very similar to that used by far right groups like the Danish People’s Party, Sweden Democrats and National Front of France gives the PS a new sinister dimension.

Its ties to the far right have been known by some analysts. Today, however, a much wider public is aware of this serious problem.

* The Finnish name of the Finns Party is the Perussuomalaiset (PS). The English names adopted by the PS, like True Finns or Finns Party, promote in our opinion nativist nationalism and xenophobia. We therefore prefer to use the Finnish name of the party on our postings.